by Honor James
Her eyes were wide when he lifted his head, opening his eyes to watch the tooth regenerate. She blinked and reached out a shaky hand to touch his cheek. “You did that for me?” she whispered and pulled him close, tears falling from her eyes as she pressed her forehead to his. “Thank you. How?”
“No tears,” he breathed out. His voice was weak as he shuddered in reaction to stretching a limb he’d rarely used. “It’s my gift,” he whispered weakly, closing his eyes again. “I’ve only used it once before, on myself when I was younger. I’ve never tried it on another but I figured since you are my soul tie, it should work. I need to sleep, Jamison, that took a lot out of me,” he whispered, his voice getting softer as the last of his energy seemed to just slide away.
“Sleep then, Ra, I will protect you, your daughter, this, I swear.” Leaning in, she brushed her lips over his and settled in close to hold him tightly. “Rest, Raven, just rest.”
Chapter 12
Waking slowly, Raven was disoriented for a time and reached out blindly only to find nothing but cool sheets. His eyes snapped open as he sat up quickly, his head spinning slightly. “Jamison,” he called, fear coating his tongue. She had to be here, she had to be. “Jamison!” he called louder as his heart started to pound in anguish, his mind telling him that he hadn’t found her, that she wasn’t with him, that their daughter was nothing but a dream.
Jami’s voice called through the door to the bathroom followed by a giggle. “I’m in the bathroom, Raven. You woke about ten minutes ago and told me to go and take a bath. Why don’t you come on in here and join me? I even put in the bubbles.” Her voice was pure tease.
Rubbing a hand over his face, he let out a breath of absolute relief as he slid from the bed. Walking into the bathing chamber, he stared at her across the space. “I don’t remember that,” he told her quietly as he padded to the tub. Climbing in, he wrinkled his nose at the scent coming from the bubbles. When she moved to him, he wrapped his arms around her tightly, burying his face in her neck. “I thought it was all a dream,” he whispered hoarsely.
She buried her face against his neck and breathed him in. “I know, honey.” She had thought it was a dream when she woke in his arms as well. “I won’t listen to you from now on when you tell me that I stink.” She grinned and nuzzled her face against the side of his neck before pulling away to look at him. “I will make sure that you are well and fully awake and looking me in the eyes when you tell me that I stink before I come to bathe.”
Frowning at her words, he shook his head. “I did not tell you that you stunk.” He hesitated before adding, “I didn’t, did I?” When she tipped her head, cocking a brow, he winced. “Should I apologize now or later?” he asked quietly.
“How about you just wash my back and all is forgiven?” Touching his cheeks, she grinned. “Raven, it’s really all right,” she promised, brushing a kiss to each of his cheeks. “Just calm down and love me, baby. I promise I didn’t take offence.” She grinned wider and added, “It made me smile actually.”
Holding her to him for a moment, he nodded slowly. She might be smiling, but he wasn’t. He’d said something without thought and he knew that it had to have hurt her. All he did was cause her pain. Why she was staying with him was beyond him, but he loved her all the more for it. “I love you, Jami, I never meant to say anything to hurt you,” he whispered softly as he drew back to look into her eyes.
“I know that you didn’t, Raven. I know that you didn’t try to hurt me and it really didn’t hurt me, love. I do mean it when I tell you that you didn’t hurt me,” she said with a smile and leaned into him. “Please, Raven, I wish that you would believe me, honey, I really do.”
“I do believe you, love,” he said softly, his eyes searching hers carefully, no lies hidden in the depths. “I’ve been lied to a lot in my life,” he told her, touching her cheek lightly. “But with you I know you won’t ever.” At last he was starting to believe. Before he hadn’t been sure, after the note he would have said definitely, but now he knew that was not who she was or ever would be. Kissing her lightly, he pushed at her shoulder. “Turn around and I’ll do your back,” he said softly.
She gave a small nod before twisting around to offer him her back. Pulling her hair around and over her shoulder, she looked back at him and grinned. “And will you do that one thing with your thumbs? You know when I get to feeling all stressed out and tense. I don’t know what it’s called, but I do like it a lot.”
Rubbing the bar of soap between his hands, Raven nodded to her, and when she faced away once more, he set the bar aside before he began to slide his hands over her back. Gently, he pressed his thumbs into the muscles, moving them in small circular motions as he went up and then down her spine. Over and over he moved his hands over her back, working out each of the muscles carefully until she looked nearly boneless and practically to the point of sliding under the water. Dropping his hands to her hips, he pulled her closer to him as he turned her and slid his arms around her. “Any more and you will be asleep,” he told her at the small nearly subvocal protest.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” She shifted in his hold and placed both her feet on each side of his hips and laid her head on his shoulder. Chest to chest, core to core, they lay quietly in the tub until she suddenly chuckled softly. “I’m so glad you had the forethought to have such a massive tub.”
Rubbing her back, he nuzzled her cheek gently. “I am glad that you like the tub,” he told her softly. “Are you feeling all right, with the baby and all, love?” he asked her. He was worried about her, especially after all she’d gone through with the kidnapping.
She nodded and slid her arms around him, her hold tight. “Yes, I think that we are finally getting back to normal, Ra.” She shrugged. “I still feel slightly hungry, but I’m sure that will pass.” She pulled back and looked at him. “Because Daddy will make sure that we will get all we need, won’t he?”
“If you are hungry, Jamison, you should feed,” he told her. “Never delay, especially after all you and she have been through.” Stroking back her hair, he pressed a kiss to her throat. “Feed and then we will get out and go to find actual food.”
She nodded and asked the question he could see on her face. “Do I hurt you when I feed from you, Ra? When I bite into you, I don’t hurt you do I?” She stroked the skin of his neck with a finger.
Sighing, he looked her in the eye and shook his head. “No, love, you don’t hurt me when you feed. It feels…” He felt his cheek warm slightly. “It feels erotic actually,” he mumbled as he ducked his head slightly. “I like feeling you feed from me, Jamison,” he admitted against her shoulder with a shrug.
She chuckled and nodded. “It’s like when you feed from me, Raven. I love the way that it feels, the way that it feels to have your mouth to my skin to know that I am giving you something you need.” She pressed a kiss to the side of his neck. Nuzzling at the side of his neck, she moaned, obviously feeling his cock hardening against her thigh. “I need you,” she whispered a moment before biting in and deep.
Rocking slightly from the bite that was just as it should have always been but for his mother’s interference, Raven cradled her close to him. Resting his cheek to her hair, he lightly stroked her back slowly. “I love you, Jamison,” he whispered softly.
His words of love were music to her ears, to hear him tell her that he loved her seemed to right all that could or might be wrong in the world. She fed deeply until she pulled back and sealed the wounds with the swipe of her tongue. “I love you, too, Raven,” she whispered against his lips.
Kissing her softly, he picked up one of her hands and toyed with her fingers. “I think we need to get out or we may have to wring you out, Jamison,” he said with a hint of humor as he held up her wrinkled fingers. “Let’s get you dried off and then we can go for food.”
“Yes, food sounds really good.” She moved from his lap and stood. Stepping from the tub she grabbed a towel and offered it to him before
taking her own. Drying off as she walked, she knew that he followed but didn’t pause.
Moving to the closet, she pulled out a dress and pulled it over her head, no underclothes on, and shooting him a look over her shoulder as if to dare him to say something.
A corner of his mouth curled up at her, and he just shook his head as he moved past to find some comfortable clothing. He needed them since his body was still healing from the silver he’d had. Unfortunately wounds caused by silver took a little longer to heal and were extremely sensitive for a very long time. Pulling on the loose pants and then a loose shirt, he moved to her on bare feet, not feeling the need to wear shoes in their home.
She hadn’t put on shoes, either. There was no need for shoes in their home. She went into his arms when he got closer, looking up at him with a soft and warm expression on her face.
Her hands moved up his chest and wrapped around his neck. “How are you feeling? I saw how you are moving. Are you still hurting where I…?” She swallowed audibly. “Where I did that?” She meant, cutting out the silver, of course.
“It is still a little tender and will be for a few more days at the least, but at the moment it is my whole body,” he told her softly. “I just ache all over,” he admitted as he stroked his hand over her body. “Do not worry, love, I will recover inside the week, and all will be the way it should be.”
“I worry about you, Raven,” she said simply as she pulled back. “I worry very much about you, about all of the silver those bastards have put into your body. I worry for the father of my daughter. It is my right after all.”
He couldn’t argue with her. “I know, Jamison, and I thank you for that,” he said softly. “I will be just fine, my love. I promise I’ve been here before and, though I really hope I never have to have it happen again, it likely will.”
She stepped back from him and shook her head. “No.” She couldn’t see him go off and be hurt again like that, she couldn’t be the wife that stayed behind and waited for news from the front lines about her husband. “I can’t let you be hurt like that again, Raven. I don’t care if I have to follow you to hell and back, I won’t let you be taken, be hurt again. To hell with the Council, they can go and fight their own damn wars and stop sending good men like you to be tortured and killed.”
Staring at her, he frowned. “It’s what I do, my lady wife,” he told her in a low tone. “It’s all I am good at doing. It’s what I was trained for and it’s all I know. If I can’t do that then,” he said slowly, and gave her a look that said he didn’t know what he’d do.
“You are good at so much more than that, Raven,” she whispered and sighed. “Just know that where you go, I follow. You can’t hide from me, and no matter where they take you they will never keep you from me. I will always find you, Raven, my promise to you.”
Reaching out, he took her hand in his and pulled her in close. “I hear you, Jamison, thank you,” he whispered softly to her as he pressed his cheek to hers. Wrapping his arms around her, he rubbed at her back slowly as he held onto her.
She smiled and held him close. “There is nothing to thank me for, Raven. You would always come for me just as I always will come for you. It’s the way it is when you love someone. And I do love you, Raven, with everything that I have alive inside of me, I love you.” Stepping back, she squeezed his hand. “But for now we need to eat or I am going to strip you naked and never let you out of bed.”
She said that as though he might believe it was a bad idea. But the hot and interested look he gave her told her otherwise. “As you wish, my lady wife,” he said, taking the proper way out and stepped back. Taking her hand in his, he guided her quickly from the room before she could reevaluate the choices.
As they walked down the hall she stopped, stepped back, and then said, “Raven.” She had seen the door to his office barely ajar and, as they’d walked past, caught a glimpse of it. But now that she was back at the door and had the door open wide, she could see everything.
Stepping into the office, careful of where her bare feet moved, she looked around at the absolute destruction. “You truly believed I had left you, didn’t you?” She turned, tears rolling down her face. “You did this?”
He’d followed her, like she’d known he would and gave a nod when she looked his way. “Yes,” he said in a low tone. “I was devastated. I couldn’t think, all I could do was react,” he said as he stopped at her back. “I haven’t had time to clean it up obviously,” he muttered.
She turned and, shaking her head, wrapped her arms around his middle. “I love you, Raven. I really hope that one day you will realize that I will never leave you. Not just because of our daughter, but because of what is between us, the love that I have for you.”
“I know you won’t. I’m a little slow at the emotional aspects of life, but I am beginning to realize it,” he told her as he wrapped his arms around her in turn. “I love you, Jamison, I will always love you, my lady wife,” Raven said against her hair.
Rubbing her cheek against his chest, she simply breathed him in for many long moments. “You will need to clean this up later.” For now, though, they really needed to eat. “Take me and feed me, Raven. We need to ensure that our daughter has the best of everything.”
“And her mother as well,” he told her softly. “Her mother needs to be treated as the goddess she is,” he added in a whisper against her ear before he pulled back. “Come, my lady wife, let’s feed at least one of your hungers.”
“And the other I will demand that you feed a little later, my love. The other hunger and need I will collect from you after we have fed well on food and you have gorged yourself on blood.”
“Yes, my lady,” he told her and, this time when he left the room, ensured the door was shut tight. Leading her down the halls, he walked slowly, each step measured to ensure he didn’t jar his own injuries.
“Raven,” she said, pausing at the top of the stairs with a frown. “We can eat in our rooms if you are hurting. You don’t have to walk around with me just because I need to stretch my legs. If you would like I can go down and arrange our meal to be brought up and then come up with it shortly.” She touched his face. “I’m worried about you, Raven, very much so.”
Shaking his head at her, he covered her hand with his. “I need to move. Too much rest makes the muscles seize up.” Taking her hand he led her onward. “I am fine, Jamison, I just need to stretch all the muscles out and then I’ll be fine.” Or well enough, as she wouldn’t notice the bits of stiffness he knew would take more than a day to get past.
“All right.” Her hand squeezed his as they moved into the dining room. She watched as the guard watched them moving and frowned. “They certainly don’t trust me do they?” Not that she could blame them. She had only been in Raven’s life for two months. She was an outsider and they were watching over and protecting their lord, and for that she could forgive them anything.
“They are looking out for your safety, love,” he told her softly as he stroked her fingers with his thumb. Guiding her to the table, he pulled out a chair for her and, seating her, moved to the chair at her side. Sitting down with care, he leaned toward her. “They know you are with child,” he whispered under his breath. “And that you were taken to hurt you and me,” he added just as the servants swarmed in to bring them their meal.
Chapter 13
There was a definite blush to her cheeks as she bowed her head. “I’m glad that they are all right with me then.” She was worried and when she looked to him it showed on her face. “You inspire men and women to serve under you not because they have to but because they want to. You are strict, but you are honest and fair and you would never ask another to do something that you could easily do. You would never send men to their deaths, and that inspires men to want to be in your service, Raven.” She licked her lips. “And that is only one of the hundred or more reasons I love you.”
Lifting a brow at her, he nodded to a serving girl who offered the light liquor, his a
ttention never wavering from her face as he heard the liquid hit the glass. Only when they all put down their dishes, the jugs, and other trays, and left them alone did he finally answer. “Will you ever tell me the other ninety-nine reasons?” he asked with a hint of amusement, making his lips twitch even though his voice was as it always was, too harsh and too cold.
She shrugged and took a sip of the milk that was left before her. “It’s possible that I will tell you eventually all of the hundred, or more,” she stressed. “Of the reasons that I love you but most definitely not all at once. I need to be able to have something to fall back on, something to have you begging for more.”
“Begging?” he asked her softly and shook his head. “Not ever something I would do.” Maybe. But he was not going to admit that to her, ever. It would give her much too much power over him. Taking up his glass, he sipped at the pale liquor, his eyes never straying from her face. “What appeals to you, love?” he asked, waving his free hand to the table before them and the food, all the food set before them.
“You.” He could see it was the honest truth. However, she did break eye contact and looked at the banquet before them. “Wow, is there always this much food? I don’t recall them ever putting this much out before, or I am recalling incorrectly?”
“I think they are trying to encourage you to remain here despite my—how did one maid put it—” He thought for a moment. “Ah yes, my growly, snarly exterior so that you can keep me from running off the staff at regular intervals.” Even though all the staff that were there had been with him from the beginning, with very few ever leaving, unless for marriage.
She snorted and shook her head. “Funny, I don’t think a single one of them has been run off yet.” She leaned in closer and said in a stage whisper, “And I love all the food, but more than that I love you.” She pulled back but reached out to touch his cheek. “You are why I would always stay, why I will never be far. Because you need me just as I need you.”